Jim Carrey has revealed some of his advisers weren't sure about him taking the lead role in Mr Popper's Penguins.

The film, based on the children's book of the same name, sees Jim play a divorced driven businessman who inherits six penguins that turn his life upside-down.

"When I was doing it, and even when I chose it, there were people in my camp who were saying, 'You really want to do a penguin movie? You know, a penguin movie, children's movie kind of thing?'" Jim recalled.

"It's like, 'You want that rock-and-roll edge in your life? And is that really to code?' But I just went with the instinct of, 'I love frickin' penguins.'"

The 49-year-old funnyman worked with actual and animatronic penguins on set, and has fond memories of filming with the real creatures.

"With the (real) penguins, my favourite moment was just the mayhem at the dinner table and stuff that went on after the camera was off," he said.

"Real penguins, real penguins that were supposed to be kept at bay, sitting in their chairs and eating off the plates and they just went nuts and took over."